Early storm warning better even if it's wrong

We're not really surprised when weather forecasters call for a foot of blowing snow and we awaken the next morning to find just a dusting of the white stuff.

So, we shouldn't be shocked by the forecasted derecho that amounted to nothing more than a noisy night of largely non-damaging storms early Thursday.

We should be grateful for the forecast, though, not to mention the electricity powering our homes and businesses Thursday morning. The memories of our nasty June 29 derecho and widespread, multi-day power outages remain quite fresh for all.

Perhaps that's why forecasters took the once unusual step of predicting a potentially serious summer storm more than 24 hours before its anticipated arrival.

It's not unusual to have such advanced warning of winter storms, which generally are far less destructive than the sudden fury of tornadoes and thunderstorms with hurricane-force winds. Coastal areas are rarely surprised by hurricanes.

But we were all stunned by the devastation to trees and power lines last June when the surprise derecho swept out of northern Indiana with hurricane-force winds and flew east across Ohio at the speed of a freeway driver. Forecasters had called for storms that day, but not a brief hurricane from Columbus to Washington, D.C.

Some made jokes about forecasters being wrong 90 percent of the time Thursday, although the truth is they correctly predicted the timing and path of the storms. What if they had been right about the intensity, too?

Just a few weeks ago, similar warnings probably saved lives in Moore, Okla., even as a massive tornado took others.

Ohio's warnings allowed everyone time to prepare for a possible storm, much like we do when a blizzard is approaching.